Yesterday afternoon the Sportsvite team and our fellow colleagues from 212 Media had the opportunity to lace up our bowling shoes for a fun mid-summer corporate outing. The event went off without a hitch thanks to the hard work of 300 New York Bowling Lanes, based inside of Chelsea Piers.

300 New York is not just your traditional bowling center. In following the newest trend in the industry of boutique bowling centers, 300 ranks right up there among the leaders with nine locations throughout the U.S. No longer does a bowling alley just have a pro shop, a handful of lanes and a dingy looking bar. Now the industry is full of hybrid bowling centers like 300, which have plush amenities such as beautiful, comfy couches in the bowling area. In addition, certain elements standard to most Family Entertainment Centers (FECs) can be found on site. 300 has an arcade area full of games and a redemption counter.

The most integral part of any bowling event is the lanes themselves. The atmosphere at 300 sets the tone for a fun time with great tunes to go along with large screens that showed sporting events, music videos and more. Along with neon guide lights, glow in the dark bowling balls helped brighten everyone’s experience. Maybe the coolest feature of all is the ability to pick from different themes for your electronic scoring machine.

If you are looking for a great place to eat or drink or bowl, 300 New York has it all. For more information visit them at www.300newyork.com.

Hoopsters in Texas should be chomping at the bit right about now. Why might you ask? Because Shamrock Basketball Association is back for another season. SBA founder Ryan Girardot is taking his tournament-style league to new markets this summer, and taking the Texas rec bball world by storm in the process.

Girardot started SBA about 8 years ago in his rural hometown of Forney, TX. As a kid, he ball-boyed for the Dallas Mavericks and got to watch Dirk Nowitzki from up close. Girardot naturally took after Dirk’s game, to the point that strangers regularly call him “Dirk” before the end of many pick-up games!

Motivated by the success of his beloved Mavs, Girardot’s vision was to create a state-wide summer league for various ages, high-schoolers & up. What started as a hobby grew into a full-fledged program quicker than a J. Kidd-led fast-break. Last summer SBA hosted 40 teams in 4 different cities, or “divisions” (Tyler, Levitt, Forney, Dallas). This year Girardot and co. have secured 200 teams and 18 divisions, thanks to new partnerships with gym facilities in Austin, Bryan, & San Antonio to name a few.

At the end of the summer, SBA will invite each of its division leaders to the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT in San Antonio, where a Shamrock champion will be crowned. A dunk contest and three-point shootout will also be part of the festivities.

But that’s not it for Girardot, who truly takes the saying Everything’s Big in Texas to heart. “Our players will actually be looked at by all of our local coordinators and the best players will be invited to try out for our Pro-Am tourney representing the All-SBA team, possibly even getting to play with some current and former NBA players.”

Ryan Girardot is pumped to see how this season goes, and plans to one day take SBA to the national level. At this rate, don’t bet against him!

Spring season officially begins this week for Sacramento’s very own sport and social club. Appropriately named Sacramento Sport and Social Club, this unique adult sports experience has something in store for all types of social rec athlete in the Sacramento area.

The idea first arose in 2008 when SSSC founder Brad Satterwhite and a co-worker of his wanted to get a group of their employee friends together for some good-natured out-of-office fun. They decided on bowling, but when the crew couldn’t find a local league that fit their needs, Satterwhite stepped up and played the role of league organizer. The office-mates started with 12 teams in what later became known as the Planning, Policy, Urban Development Bowling League (or ‘PUDL for short, named after their career field). 3 years later, PUDL is back for a Spring season and more popular than ever before. Longtime PUDL member Jim Clark says:
“PUDL gives you that chance to have a really great time with really great people. You will not find a bowling league that has as much fun both in the alley and out than we at PUDL do.”

But even this is just the tip of Sacramento’s iceberg.. Last year league members started asking about other sports and activities. Recognizing the potential there, Satterwhite has since set up leagues that appeal to the socially-inclined, co-ed crowd- adding Mini-Golf, Cornhole, and Beer Pong to the mix. There is even a league devoted entirely to team trivia, as well a golf league named “Putt-Putt League of Awesomely Fun People” (all members are guaranteed free putt-putt after the season ends.. nice!). Thus, Sac Sport and Social is creating a niche for itself as THE social league in greater Sacramento. You can almost think of it as a well-organized, neverending carnival for adults.

The commish also emphasizes rewards and prize opportunities for his participants. Sign up on the official SSSC website here and win a pair of movie tickets to Tower Theatre in Sacramento- just enter “Sportsvite” in the ‘Referred by/from’ section of the form.

Once you’ve created an account on the website, register for summer leagues here via SSSC’s LeagueApps-powered online registration, OR in person at MVP’s Sports Grill on Thursday, April 28th from 5:30pm-7pm.

Be sure to “like” Sacramento Sport and Social Club’s Facebook Page, thanks for the support!

This past weekend, Memorial Sloan-Kettering held its Cycle for Survival event in 2 Equinox gyms in Midtown Manhattan and 1 on Long Island. The Sportsvite team watched as riders raised over $4.2 Mil towards rare cancer research, nearly equaling the previous 4 years’ combined totals. There’s still one final spin event in San Francisco on March 5th.

Everyone in the gym had high spirits- the bikers pumped their legs with purpose, while all the non-bikers cheered on like it was the final leg of the Tour de France. Even Seth Myers of SNL was there to bike his goofy butt off.

The energy was contagious! Just being in attendance was truly inspiring. We took some photos and videos of the action. It was nice to see Sportsvite on the back of the t-shirts, but we vow to be active participants and bring our own team next year. We hope to see you there. Congrats to everyone!

NYC Soccer Collective founder Dana Dimon grew up in Southern California, where there was no shortage of competitive Coed leagues to play in. Hoping to find that same burst of Coed soccer activity when she moved to New York in the early 90’s, she was surprised to find that there was NOT ONE league solely dedicated to Coed play. Dimon tried joining an “open” divison that welcomed women, but quickly saw that a lot of the guys she played with weren’t thrilled about sharing the field with women: “I joined and the guys wouldn’t pass to me. Even after I stripped the opponent of the ball and scored a goal.”

So Dimon took matters into her own hands (and feet) by setting out to fill the void in NYC’s Soccer community. She founded NYC Soccer Collective in 2004 and has since lived up to the tag line “sexy soccer in the city” by creating an energetic coed environment. One of the organization’s claims to fame is its year-round outdoor competition- going on 6 years and running!

The WINTER POLAR BEAR SOCCER DIVISIONS include a Wed night Polar Bear Pickup Division (at DeWitt Clinton field) for players of all skill levels, and a Thurs night Coed & Mens leagues (at Pier 40) for those fierce Landon Donovanesque competitors. Dimon loves everything about Winter Soccer- from the competition to the extracurriculars: “Winter season is mostly about fun and feeling like an invincible rockstar (and post game hot toddies!). Indeed, the players love playing in the winter too. Kevin Donahue (of Team Barracuda) says, “Playing in winter gives me an opportunity to wear my hot pants. And my dad says it builds character.”